Writing competition - 'Sanctuary'

Though not peculiar just to Spain, but sadly the financial crisis here has meant that pet owners have abandoned their animals, often without any thought to their welfare; dumped in rubbish bins, left on busy roads or abandoned in the countryside. Horse, cat and dog sanctuaries are attempting to rectify matters. One such sanctuary is San Animal Santuario which is based in San Juan de Los Terreros on the Murcia –Andalucía border of Spain (see below).

Sue Johnson, a short story writer, novelist and writing tutor, has  joined forces with Cathy Zelenka (see her Blog www.writerinaguilas.blogspot.com) to organise a short story writing competition to help the San Animal Santuario.

Short stories of up to 1,000 words on the theme of Sanctuary must be submitted by 31st July 2014.

There is an entry fee of £5 per story – or £12 for three - with the option of a full critique by Sue for an additional £5 per story.

The theme can be interpreted in any way you choose – your favourite place, a lover’s arms, an escape story.

1st prize £100

2nd £50

3rd £25.

Cheques should be made payable to S Johnson.

Please double space your work and send to: The Gallops, Southam Lane, Cheltenham GL52 8NY.

 

No email submissions, so you’ll have to be quick.

If you would like a critique, please enclose return postage. All other entries will be shredded after the competition.

Further details about the competition can be found on Cathy’s blog: www.writerinaguilas.blogspot.com

See more at: http://www.writers-toolkit.co.uk/blog/?p=988#sthash.HUJMgHZH.dpuf

San Animal Santuario

A small international team of volunteers rescue abandoned dogs, puppies, kittens and cats. Recently a puppy was rescued from the countryside where he was found tied up in full sun, with no food or water, he’d simply been left to slowly die in agony.

San Animal Santuario find many animals new homes in other parts of Europe which incurs the additional costs of them being neutered, vaccinated, given passports and transported etc. There is also a programme to sterilise feral cats.

Ghost towns

Ghost towns aren’t only to be found in the Old West of western myth. We have them here in Spain, too; thousands of abandoned villages.

These ruined buildings must have many stories to tell, some happy, others sad. People’s lives, their dreams and high hopes blossomed amidst these stones, but now they’ve gone – either elsewhere to create new hopes and live new dreams, or to join the dust of generations departed.

Currently for sale is a village of A Barca in the north-west region of Galicia, nestling in a hillside that overlooks the Mino river close to the Portuguese border. Selling price is zero euros. The twelve crumbling stone dwellings admittedly need work, too. This particular village dates back to the fifteenth century, so the catch is that the successful applicant must present a development project that will preserve all of the village’s buildings.

There are many reasons why villages are deserted. Some were left after the Civil War, when the men didn’t return; some sought greener grass for better farming, while others were abandoned gradually as people sought work in the towns and cities. The residents of A Barca left in the 1960s when a dam was built, which flooded their farmland.

Spain's National Statistics Institute estimates that there are around 2,900 empty villages across the country. There’s even a website specialising in the sale of deserted hamlets called aldeasabandonadas.com, which has to be an enterprising endeavour. Another site is galicianrustic.com. About half of this number is in Asturias and neighbouring Galicia, a mostly rural region that is home to the famous pilgrimage site of Santiago de Compostela.

The dismal economic climate of the past few years has prompted many writers and painters to sell up, too. There is also the problem of locating the owners of the abandoned properties. They may have moved away long ago and haven’t been heard from since. In other cases, property deeds have been lost or even destroyed.

Recently, British, Norwegians, Americans, Germans, Russians and Mexicans have purchased abandoned rural properties in these areas. One town, which is on sale for €62,000, is made up of five stone houses with slate roofs, surrounded by pine and eucalyptus trees. Apparently, the family who once lived here made knives, while others were carpenters and farmers.

Their ghosts may still remain, grinding blades, hewing wood, tilling fields…

 Jennifer and Hannah in a ruined building

[My accompanying photos were taken in Murcia; copyright 2014]

Real Spain, as above, can also be found in the pages of Spanish Eye,

22 cases of half-English, half-Spanish private eye Leon Cazador, as told to me 'in his own words'.

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